8 Top EdTech Trends Rocking the Market in 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the world, and the learning landscape hasn’t become an exception. With lockdowns and massive adoption of distant learning, many educational institutions found themselves wholly disoriented and confused due to the lack of appropriate tools and systems for the organization of a high-quality learning process for students of different ages. The demand for edtech app development services is growing at enormous rates, and the expenditure in related technologies.

Forecasted Expenditure on Advanced Education Technology Worldwide from 2018 to 2025 (in billion US dollars)

But what are the current trends in education? And what should your application offer to users to ensure the relevant experience in 2021? Here we share our vision of the changing market and current industry evolvement.

Trend 1. Tech-enabled Immersive Learning

What is immersive learning? This approach presupposes using a simulated or augmented environment for educational purposes. With the help of modern software powered by innovative tools, users can feel completely immersed in the learning process and participate in simulations and scenarios.

Technologies that help to ensure immersive learning experiences:

• AR (Augmented reality). AR-powered software allows putting virtual objects into real-world environments. Apps enriched with AR functionality help learners explore different things, capacities, and parameters and use them in real-world space. Such applications can run on special headsets or AR-capable tablets and smartphones.
• VR (Virtual reality). With a created artificial environment, users can get fully immersed in a new reality that is not accessible in the real world. VR software allows moving objects, walking around the room, and interacting with virtual characters. For integrating VR experience in the educational process, a special headset for each learner is required. 
• 360º video learning. When you want your students (or employees) to get acquainted with some locations that are either too difficult or too expensive to visit, you can offer them such an option as 360º videos.  A user can study the created training environment in detail by dragging with a computer mouse or finger on a mobile device.

What are the main benefits of immersive learning?

• It allows learners to practice their skills needed in the real world but in an entirely safe environment.
• It adds emotions to the process of learning, making it more engaging.
• The learning can be fully embedded in the actual context, even if it is impossible in the real world.
• A learner can practice newly developed skills regardless of time and location. The only requirement is to have access to the necessary devices.

Trend 2. K-12 Homeschooling Startups

With many educational institutions opting for distant learning during the ongoing pandemic, the need for reliable K-12 homeschooling platforms has increased.  The requirements for such projects are relatively strict, as they should have high-quality educational materials and experiences for students from kindergarten to 12th grade.

According to the data provided by UNESCO, as of April 2020, around 1.5 billion students across 151 countries were affected by school closures. As of May 2021, nearly 210 million students still stay at home because of the epidemiological situation. 

However, the risk of further restrictions still exists. It means that societies need to think about solutions that will ensure a continuous learning process despite any measures that can affect the work of schools.  Moreover, even without considering the impact of COVID-19 on the learning process, homeschooling has a wide range of advantages.

Benefits of homeschooling platforms:

• Academic flexibility
• Innovative educational products
• Access to huge volumes of materials
• Increased student engagement
• Efficient communication between students, teachers, and parents.

Trend 3. eLearning

When we talk about new trends in education, it is impossible to omit eLearning, which is closely tied with homeschooling that we’ve mentioned above. But it is a much broader notion. 

Modern technologies provide every internet user on our planet with the possibility to learn anything he or she wants from the best educators in the world. Even while sunbathing somewhere on the seashore, you can listen to the lecture on Quantum mechanics by a professor from Oxford University. And today, eLearning is much more than video lectures. eLearning platforms can offer full-scale educational programs, live communication with professors, tests, examinations, and even a possibility to get a degree at a university located somewhere on another continent.

Key advantages of eLearning projects:

• 24/7 access to eLearning platforms
• Continuously updated materials
• Possibility to take lectures any number of times it is required
• Reduced costs of education
• Flexibility in the learning process organization.

Trend 4. Accessible Education

The concept of accessible education is based on the necessity to offer courses and programs that will satisfy people’s demands with any abilities and disabilities, backgrounds, and knowledge. All people are different. But regardless of their race, age, gender, nationality, and physical and mental health, they all should have access to reliable materials and platforms that will make education possible for them. 

Special education software is the brightest example that proves the popularity of this trend in education. Being developed in close cooperation with medical experts, such apps help learners overcome individual difficulties or specific medical diagnoses.

Examples of assistive technologies:

• Text-to-speech (TTS) software for learners who have difficulties in reading printed texts
• Hearing assistive technology and Sound-field systems for people with hearing disorders
• Sip-and-puff systems for students who have problems with mobility (These solutions help to control a computer or a smartphone by moving the device with a mouth).

Trend 5. AI-enable Adaptive Learning

Adaptive learning is an approach in education that includes computer algorithms and AI (artificial intelligence) tools to organize the interaction with learners in the most efficient way. This educational method presupposes delivering highly personalized activities and resources to satisfy the unique demands of each student.

What adaptive learning offers:

• Personalized learning experience
• Tracking progress and monitoring performance
• Time efficiency
• Better results
• Faster goal achievement.

Trend 6. Gamification

The popularity of gamification in education is based on the theory that people, regardless of their age, can learn even the most difficult things much faster when they are having fun. And actually, there is nothing new in it. Teachers have always been trying to add competition elements, offer different awards and activities to motivate students. However, modern technologies allow us to expand the range of options significantly.

Today, there are many gaming apps for studying different subjects, including languages, starting from simple memory games to complex strategy games aimed at helping students advance their knowledge.

Benefits of eLearning gamification:

• Increased engagement
• Enhances the overall learning experience 
• Improved knowledge retention
• Boosted motivation.

Trend 7. Google for Education

If your study years were in the 21st century, you would have wondered how your parents managed to graduate without Google. Right?

And today, Google offers much more than a search engine. The company provides many tools that can be extremely helpful for business and learning needs. They are, for example, Google Docs, Google Forms, Google Sheets, Gmail, and Cloud Platform.

And some products are targeted mainly at teachers and learners:

• Google Classroom that allows creating a comfortable environment for learning 
• Google Assignments is a powerful tool for distributing, grading and analyzing student work.

These products deserve to be considered for your solutions. Their interface and logic are familiar to almost every internet user. This fact means that students and teachers who will use your solution won’t have to get accustomed to unfamiliar tools and can fully concentrate on the learning process.

Trend 8. Growth of Investments in Edtech

The last but not least important emerging trend in education is related more to edtech startups themselves and not to projects.

Over the recent years, we can observe stable growth funding in the industry. Investors are ready to support innovative ideas for revolutionizing the learning landscape.

According to the data provided by EdSure, 2020 was a record year for the edtech market all over the world. In the US only, the capital raised hit 2.2 billion.

Investment Capital & Number of Investment Deals

For example, Roblox, which offers gaming and coding education, managed to raise $150 million. In contrast, Coursera, which has gained fame as the most popular platform for getting higher education online, received $130 million in funding.

This trend is very inspiring for everyone who is considering launching an edtech project.

But enormous interest from the side of investors is always accompanied by colossal market competition. Our team has prepared some tips for you. Consider them while building your eLearning project, and your solution will be bound to succeed.

If you need any assistance in building your project, we will be happy to help you. We are always open to cooperation. And with our rich expertise in software development and edtech, we can become a reliable partner for you. Just leave your inquiry on our website, and our specialists will contact you as soon as possible.